Arlington City Council Approves Economic Incentives for UPS Regional Hub

The proposed UPS regional hub would be located in the Arlington Commerce Center Building E, which is under construction near Interstate 20 and SH 360 in south Arlington. Photo credit: Exeter Property Group

The Arlington City Council has approved tax incentives to help United Parcel Service, Inc., open a regional hub in early 2019, a move that would bring an estimated 1,400 full-time jobs and fill one of the city’s largest warehouse/industrial spaces.

UPS will lease approximately 1 million square feet of space under construction at the Arlington Commerce Center, located south of Interstate 20 near Bardin Road and SH 360. The company plans to expand the facility by an additional 200,000 square feet and invest approximately $105 million overall in personal business property, including modern, conveyer belt systems and other custom equipment. The new regional hub will allow UPS , a Fortune 500 company, to accommodate e-commerce growth, particularly around the holiday seasons.“Arlington has such an advantage, with its central location in the Dallas-Fort Worth region and easy access to major airports and highways,” Economic Development Manager Bruce Payne said. “For this kind of operation, we are in a good position. And with the economy humming along, companies are moving on that and we are reaping the rewards.”The UPS hub is anticipated to improve the taxable value of the Arlington Commerce Center site, built by Exeter Property Group, by a minimum of $30 million.On Tuesday, the Arlington City Council unanimously approved an economic development deal with UPS that was four months in the making, Payne said. To help UPS offset costs required to modify the facility and get operations underway, the approved Chapter 380 program agreement will provide the company with a business personal property tax rebate of 85 percent for seven years.Arlington will withhold approximately $93,000 a year from the rebate, which will allow the City to recoup $650,000 in economic development incentives previously granted to Exeter Property Group to facilitate construction of the 1 million square foot warehouse space.Having that large of a space available for lease was key for Arlington to stand out among other possible north Texas locations for the UPS regional hub, Payne said.The Chapter 380 agreement will provide UPS a net savings of approximately $71,600 a year in taxes to Arlington while still providing an additional $29,000 in tax revenue to the City.UPS joins a growing list of companies that are expanding or moving their operations to The American Dream City. About 7 million square feet of business space is either under construction, in the pipeline or planned, Payne said. This includes the $1.4 billion expansion by General Motors at its Arlington Assembly Plant, the relocation of the D.R. Horton headquarters from Fort Worth, and construction of both Summit Racing Equipment’s retail store and distribution center and Ridge Development’s 1.6 million-square- foot industrial park, both which are major projects underway on Interstate 20 near SH 360.“We’re a hot market right now,” Payne said. “We’re very fortunate as a city that we are in the right place at the right time with the right set of attributes that businesses and clients are interested in.”